DESCRIBE TYPE

Print information about user-defined types (UDTs), depending on selected options:

A list of all UDTs in the current keyspace.
A list of all UDTs in the cluster when no keyspace is selected.
One UDT, as an executable CQL statement.

Can be used to verify that a UDT exists. == Synopsis

DESCRIBE TYPES | TYPE [<keyspace_name>.]<udt_name>

Legend
Syntax conventions	Description
UPPERCASE	Literal keyword.
Lowercase	Not literal.
`< >`	Variable value. Replace with a user-defined value.
`[]`	Optional. Square brackets (`[]`) surround optional command arguments. Do not type the square brackets.
`( )`	Group. Parentheses ( `( )` ) identify a group to choose from. Do not type the parentheses.
`\|`	Or. A vertical bar (`\|`) separates alternative elements. Type any one of the elements. Do not type the vertical bar.
`...`	Repeatable. An ellipsis ( `...` ) indicates that you can repeat the syntax element as often as required.
`'<Literal string>'`	Single quotation (`'`) marks must surround literal strings in CQL statements. Use single quotation marks to preserve upper case.
`{ <key> : <value> }`	Map collection. Braces (`{ }`) enclose map collections or key value pairs. A colon separates the key and the value.
`<<datatype1>,<datatype2>>`	Set, list, map, or tuple. Angle brackets ( `< >` ) enclose data types in a set, list, map, or tuple. Separate the data types with a comma.
`<cql_statement>;`	End CQL statement. A semicolon (`;`) terminates all CQL statements.
`[--]`	Separate the command line options from the command arguments with two hyphens ( `--` ). This syntax is useful when arguments might be mistaken for command line options.
`' <<schema\> ... </schema\>> '`	Search CQL only: Single quotation marks (`'`) surround an entire XML schema declaration.
`@<xml_entity>='<xml_entity_type>'`	Search CQL only: Identify the entity and literal value to overwrite the XML element in the schema and solrConfig files.

DESCRIBE TYPES: Get all types for the current keyspace. If no keyspace is selected, get all types in the cluster.

Requires no other arguments.

The short form is DESC TYPES.
DESCRIBE TYPE: Get one type specified by name.

The short form is DESC TYPE.
<keyspace_name>: Optional. Name of the keyspace containing the type for DESCRIBE TYPE. If not specified, the current keyspace is used.
<udt_name>: Name of the type for DESCRIBE TYPE.

On Linux systems, object names, such as keyspace and table names, are case-sensitive. CQL converts object names to lowercase unless enclosed in double quotation marks.

Examples

List all types in a keyspace

Select the keyspace with USE, and then run DESC TYPES with no arguments:

USE cycling;
DESC TYPES;

The output is a list of type names in the current keyspace:

fullname  race  basic_info

Get the definition for a specific type

Specify the keyspace (optional) and name of the type to describe:

DESCRIBE TYPE cycling.fullname;

If the type exists, the result is the type definition as an executable CQL statement:

CREATE TYPE cycling.fullname (
    firstname text,
    lastname text
);

DESC TYPE is the recommended way to get information about UDTs. If you don’t have access to cqlsh, you can use CQL SELECT statements to query the system_schema.types table for information about UDTs in a database, including keyspace_name, type_name, field_names, and field_types.

DESCRIBE TYPE

Examples

Get types with `SELECT`

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DESCRIBE TYPE

Examples

Get types with SELECT

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Get types with `SELECT`